لو يشعر الصخر في ما نالنا ووعى — Nicolaos al Sayegh

لو يَشعُرُ الصخرُ في ما نالَنا ووَعى

لأَنَّ حزناً ونادى بالبُكا ونعى

If the rock could feel what befell us and understand,

it would groan in sorrow, cry out weeping, and lament the dead.

أو مسَّ بعضُ الذي قد مَسَّنا أُحُداً

لما داو يَذبُلاً لاندكَّ وانصدَعا

Or if some of what touched us had touched Uhud,

it would have swayed; or Yadhbul would have crumbled and split.

لقد فُجِعنا بمَن عزَّ العَزاءُ بهِ

ولم نَخَل مثلَنا في الناس مَن فُجِعا

Indeed, we have lost one whose loss admits little consolation,

and we never imagined anyone among people bereaved like us.

يا وَحشةَ الحيِّ من مَيتٍ وكانَ بهِ

بالأمسِ حيّاً يُحيّيَ مَن اليهِ سعى

How desolate the quarter is for one now dead, who there

was alive only yesterday, greeting whoever came to him.

جاشاكَ تُلفى ابا شروانَ منصرعاً

والناسُ صَرعى لهم فرطُ الأَسى صَرَعا

Far be it from you, Abu Shirwan, to be found fallen,

while the people lie stricken, felled by overwhelming grief.

لا خِيلَ عَرشُكَ بالأَكنافِ منخفضاً

يوماً ونعشُكَ بالأَكتافِ مرتفعا

Never was your throne imagined brought low amid its surroundings,

one day, with your bier raised high upon shoulders.

يَحِقُّ للعين أَن تُجري عُيون دمٍ

وقد رأَتكَ غضيضَ الجَفنِ مُضَّجِعا

The eye has every right to let springs of blood flow,

having seen you lying down with your eyelid lowered.

انّي لأَرثيكَ بل ابكيكَ ما شُهِدَت

آثارُكَ الغُرُّ عن فضلٍ بها لمعا

I lament you—rather, weep for you—as long as people behold

your radiant deeds, with excellence shining through them.

هل من يؤاسي او يُؤسِي حليفَ ضَنىً

لِفَقدِ موسى الذي أَوسى الحَشى جَزَعا

Is there anyone to comfort or heal one bound to wasting grief

at losing Moses, who razored the heart with anguish?

لأَنتَ موسى بَلى قلبي الكليمُ لذا

اضحيتُ بعدَكُ مُضنى القلبِ منوجعا

You are indeed Moses; yes, my heart is the wounded one—thus

after you, I have become stricken at heart and aching.

لأَنتَ موسى لِماذا لا تكَلِّمُنا

ولا تُصِيخُ لَمن نادَوكَ مستمعا

You are indeed Moses; why do you not speak to us,

or lend an attentive ear to those who called you?

لأَنتَ موسى فلا غَروَ القطيعة بل

لا بِدعَ ان قُطِّعَت أوصالُنا قِطَعا

You are indeed Moses, so severance is no wonder; indeed,

it is no marvel that our limbs have been cut into pieces.

هو الزميعُ زَجَا رَكبَ المَنُونِ ضُحىً

وازمعَ السيرَ حُبّاً يُؤمِنُ الزَّمعا

He was resolute, urging death's caravan onward at midmorning,

and resolved to journey, out of love that dispels trembling.

قَضى من الخيرِ والايام ممتلئاً

وبالتُقى وجميلِ الخيرِ مضَّلِعا

He died, full of goodness and days,

and laden with piety and noble goodness.

والحمدُ للِهِ قد أَحيى لهُ خَلَفٌ

ذكراً فلن تَنعَفِي آثارُ ما اصطنَعا

Praise be to God: his offspring have kept alive

his memory; the traces of what he wrought will never fade.

نَجلانِ صِنوانِ مثلُ الفَرقَدينِ سَنىً

او كالسِماكينِ في أُفق السماءِ معا

Two sons, twin branches, like the two Farqad stars in brightness,

or like the two Simak stars together on heaven's horizon.

رأيتُ ما سَمِعَ القومُ الأُولى جَحَدوا

منهُ الصنيعَ وما راءٍ كمن سَمِعا

I saw what the people heard—those who denied

his beneficence; one who sees is not like one who hears.

شِيدَت بحَوزَتهِ ارباعُ اديرةٍ

ناقُوسُهنَّ بها صَدرَ الدُجى قَرَعا

Monastery quarters were built within his domain;

their bells rang there in the first hours of night.

ماز الصِلاتِ لها بِرّاً ففازَ لذا

حازَ الصَلوةَ بها اجراً وخيرَ دُعا

He singled out gifts for them in kindness, and thus succeeded;

through them he gained prayer as a reward, and the finest supplications.

هذا الذي نالَ والباقي لهُ أبداً

من كل ما طالَ مغروساً ومُزدَرَعا

This is what he gained, what remains his forever,

from all that grew tall, planted or sown.

هذا الذي نَظَرَ الدُنيا الدنيَّةَ بال

يُسرى وأُخراهُ باليُمنَى وما انخَدَعا

This was he who viewed the lowly world with the

left eye, and his hereafter with the right, undeceived.

دِيناً ودُنيا حَوى مما يَرُوقُ فقُل

ما احسنَ الدِينَ والدُنيا اذا اجتمعا

He possessed faith and worldly life in pleasing measure; so say:

How fair are faith and worldly life when they unite!

لا خيرَ في نَسَبٍ يعلو ولا نَشَبٍ

يغلو اذا ما هما لم يُحرِزا الوَرَعا

There is no good in lofty lineage, nor in wealth

of high value, if the two do not attain piety.

قد فاقَ جُوداً وجِدّاً وافرَينِ معاً

وراقَ عُرفاً وعَرفاً نشرُهُ سَطَعا

He excelled in abundant generosity and earnestness alike,

and charmed with kindness and fragrance, his scent shining forth;

خلقاً وخلقاً خليقَ الصَونِ من خَلَقٍ

طبيعةً وطِباعاً جلَّ مَن طَبَعا

in form and character, deserving to be preserved from decay;

in nature and disposition—exalted is He who fashioned him!

زاكي الأُصولِ كريمُ النَبعَتينِ فمِن

بَنانِه الجُودُ والمعروفُ قد نَبَعا

Of pure roots, noble in both ancestral stocks; from

his fingertips generosity and kindness sprang forth.

طَلق الأَكُفّ فما قبضٌ يكُفُّهما

طَلقُ الغُضُون بوجهٍ قَطُّ ما امتُقِعا

Open-handed: no clenching could restrain those hands;

unfurrowed of brow, with a face that never grew pale.

لولا الرضى بقَضاءِ اللَهِ مُتُّ أَسىً

ولم أَخَل للتأَسّي فيهِ مُصطَنَعا

Were it not for acceptance of God's decree, I would have died of grief,

nor could I imagine any means of consolation in it.

فالحُكمُ بالموتِ شرعٌ لا انحِلالَ لهُ

من الالهِ وهل حَلٌّ لما اشتَرَعا

The decree of death is a law that cannot be dissolved,

from God; can what He ordained ever be annulled?

فما نجت مريمُ العذراءُ منهُ ولا

يسوعُ لكن لحُكمٍ سَنَّهُ خَضَعا

Mary the Virgin did not escape it, nor did

Jesus; rather, both submitted to a decree He ordained.

قَدى الأَنامَ بعدلٍ من ابيهِ وقد

سَنّى وأَوجبَ امراً كانَ ممتنعا

He redeemed humankind through justice from his Father, and

made possible and binding a thing that had been impossible.

هذي الطريقُ التي لا بُدَّ يَسلُكُها

كلُّ ابنِ أُنثى وما منها امرُؤٌ رَجَعا

This is the road that must be traveled by

every son of woman; no person has returned from it.

فما يقالُ عِثارُ الموت من احدٍ

ولا يُقال لكابٍ بالمَنُونِ لعَا

No one can undo the stumble of death,

nor is one felled by death told, 'Rise again!'

خَصَّ الحُتوفُ التساوي بالعُمُومِ لأَن

زالَ التَفاوُتُ اذ أَمسَوا بهِ شَرَعا

Death has made equality universal, for

distinctions vanished when through it they became equals.

لا يُعرَفُ المَلكُ والمملوك ايُّهما

مَن كانَ مرتفعاً ام كانَ متَّضِعا

None can distinguish king from slave—which of them

was exalted, or was brought low?

اين الذينَ رَعَوا رَيعَ الحَرام وما

راعوا الحَلالَ وزادوا بالغِنَى طَمَعا

Where are those who grazed on unlawful profits, and did not

heed what was lawful, but grew greedier with wealth?

هَلُمَّ نمضي إلى الأَرماس حيثُ هُمُ

لا يَعرِفُ الدُودُ من اجسامِهم شِبَعا

Come, let us go to the graves, where they lie;

the worms never have their fill of their bodies.

تَرَ الهَوامَ بها تَرعى وإِنَّ لها

بكلِّ جِسمٍ رُتوعاً حَسبَما رتعا

You will see vermin grazing there; for they have

in each body a pasture, matching how that body once grazed.

فقلتُ لَمَّا رأَيتُ الناسَ كُلَّهمُ

مَرعى سؤام البِلى تَرعى الذي مَرَعا

Then I said, when I saw all people

a pasture for decay's grazing herds, feeding on those who once flourished,

يا ليتَ شِعريَ هل هذا لَعازَرُ ام

ذاك الغنيُّ الذي في عيشهِ مَتَعا

Oh, would that I knew: is this Lazarus, or

that rich man who enjoyed himself in life?

اين الأُولى احتشدوا الاموالَ واحتَقَبوا

قد فَرَّقَ الموتُ مجموعاً ومَن جَمَعا

Where are those who amassed wealth and hoarded it?

Death has scattered both what was gathered and its gatherers.

للنهبِ ما جمعوا والدين ما صَنَعوا

ويسأَلُ اللَهُ كلاً ما الذي صنعا

What they gathered goes to plunder; what they did goes to judgment,

and God will ask each what he did.

ويكشفُ العدلُ بالميزان زائفَهُ

وكلَّ ما وَزَنَ المحتالُ واذَّرعا

And justice will expose his falseness with the balance,

and all that the swindler weighed and measured by the cubit.

طُوبى لمن باينَ الدُنيا وقد نَزَعا

عن الخطاءِ وفي قوس التُقى نَزَعا

Blessed is he who parted from the world, having turned

from sin, and drawn the bow of piety;

وأَمعنَ الفِكرَ في مَعنى عواقبهِ

وأَوسعَ الناسَ فعلَ الخيرِ ما وَسِعا

and pondered deeply the meaning of his eventual fate,

and lavished good deeds upon people as far as he could;

وصيَّرَ الموتَ مَرمى لحظهِ غَرَضاً

حتى النِهايةِ من ذِكراهُ مُرتدعا

and made death a target for his gaze,

until the end, restrained by remembering it;

وأَنجعَ النُصحَ فيهِ فهوَ منتجعٌ

مَرعى الخَلاصِ وهذا خيرُ ما انتجعا

and made counsel fruitful within himself; he seeks

the pasture of salvation—this is the best he has sought.